His Story

Brent Bishop, 29, says he has been on a tractor all his life. Today, he farms 850 acres of corn and soybeans alongside his father who manages separate acres. He owns the 40 acres that he lives on with his high school sweetheart turned wife and their two young children.

“The best way to explain what I love about farming is that I can’t explain it. I like everything about it. I like working with the equipment, working outdoors and being around the woods on a daily basis.”

The impact of bad weather has been Brent’s biggest challenge because it is completely out of his hands and unavoidable. The running theme on his farm the past 5-6 years has been dealing with mud and water in his fields.  The bad weather years cause him to deal with soil compaction when there is not enough time to allow the fields to dry out.

“If I get lucky and have a season of perfect weather, my work becomes a whole lot easier, but that seldom happens. Down our way, you can get a lot of rain fast and you end up with a bunch of little ponds out there that you have to go around as you work the field.”

Brent heard about Total Weather Insurance (TWI) when he and his father went to set up their federal crop insurance coverage for the year. The insurance agent explained that TWI could cover their acres and give them a way to recoup more money it was another wet growing season. “I thought it was a good way to hedge my bets if I ran into heavy rains. Of course, I’d rather get the bushels of beans or corn, but sometimes that just isn’t going to happen.”

“I thought it was neat how the policy worked. I could get on the computer and track rainfall so I always had some idea of where I stood. Everything was pretty straightforward. I just let Mother Nature do her thing while I did mine.”

“You seldom get perfect weather and if you do, you don’t have to worry about it because the harvest is going to make up for the insurance. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, you’re going to get some of your money back from the insurance.  I’ve been pleased with TWI, because it’s pretty easy to set up a policy and keep track of it.”